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PRESS RELEASE. INTERNET CITY, DUBAI – LBank Exchange, a global digital asset trading platform, is proud to list THN on September 22, 2021. For all users of LBank Exchange, the THN/USDT and THN/ETH trading pairs will be officially available for trading at 21:00 (UTC+8) on September 22, 2021. In recent months, NFTs have risen in popularity with artists and creators for their transformative role in ownership, commerce, and how creators connect directly with buyers, fans, and collectors. The Throne ecosystem is designed from the ground up to provide digital creators and new collectors an optimized experience. THN, the native token of Throne, will be listed on LBank Exchange at 21:00 (UTC+8) on September 22, 2021. Introducing Throne Throne (THN) is an NFT ecosystem led by a collective of blockchain engineers and an accomplished team from the music and art world, brought together by the utilization of Ethereum. Founding shareholders include Gee Roberson the former manager of Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, and Drake – Nellee Hooper U2 and Madonna’s producer – Chimere Cisse a former communications executive at Burberry – Blockchain Architect and crypto native Anthony Karter – Adam Strauss a former brand executive at Nike. An open creative economy, Throne is a platform that aims to build a new creative economy, a world where creators can use the Ethereum blockchain to value their work in entirely new ways, and build stronger connections with their supporters. NFTs have exciting new properties: they’re unique, provably scarce, liquid, usable across multiple applications and armed with all the programmability of digital assets for the next generation of creators and collectors. A place where everyday users can discover, collect, and sell their work as digital assets. Throne bridges crypto and culture to foster a network of mutual support between artists, creators, and collectors. A core part of Throne’s vision is that open protocols like Ethereum and interoperable standards like ERC-721 (and ERC-1155) will enable vibrant new economies where creators and collectors truly own this powerful brand new type of digital item. THN is the native currency of the Throne network, a keystone for the NFT economy offering benefits and advantages to within the ecosystem. The listing of THN on LBank Exchange will undoubtedly help it further expand its business and draw more attention in the market. Learn More about THN Token: Official Website Instagram Telegram Twitter Etherscan Listing Announcement on LBank Exchange: https://support.lbank.site/hc/en-gb/articles/4406672053913-THN-will-be-Listed-on-LBank About LBank Exchange LBank Exchange, founded in 2015, is an innovative global trading platform for various crypto assets. LBank Exchange provides its users with safe crypto trading, specialized financial derivatives, and professional asset management services. It has become one of the most popular and trusted crypto trading platforms with over 6.4 million users in more than 50 countries around the world. Visit us on social media: l Facebook l Twitter l LinkedIn Contact Details: LBK Blockchain Co. Limited LBank Exchange marketing@lbank.info This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

On September 21, the non-fungible token (NFT) fantasy football platform Sorare announced the company raised $680 million in a Series B funding round led by Softbank. The capital raise gives Sorare a new valuation of around $4.3 billion and the company plans to open a U.S.-based office. Sorare Reveals $680M Capital Raise Non-fungible token (NFT) assets have seen phenomenal growth this year and the company Sorare aims to tether the billion-dollar NFT industry to the multi-billion-dollar fantasy sports market. The market size of fantasy sports in the U.S. alone topped $8.4 billion in 2019. On Tuesday, the NFT fantasy football platform Sorare revealed the company has raised $680 million in a Series B financing round led by Softbank. The latest Sorare capital raise saw participation from Atomico, Bessemer Venture Partners, D1 Capital, Eurazeo, IVP, and Liontree as well. The capital raise is a milestone as it is one of Europe’s largest Series B funding rounds and the funds have propelled Sorare’s overall valuation to $4.3 billion today. In the announcement on Tuesday, the Sorare team said it plans to launch an office in the U.S. and “sign up the top 20 football leagues.” Softbank: ‘Sorare Sits at the Intersection of Two Really Exciting Industries’ Sorare also has plans to expand into other types of sports and so far, the company has licensed players from 180 football teams, including Juventus, Real Madrid, and Liverpool. According to Sorare, the startup saw $150 million in cards swapped on the platform since January 2021. “The number of monthly active paying Sorare users grew by 34X between Q2 2020 and Q2 2021, with quarterly sales increasing by 51X over the same period,” the company further highlighted in the announcement. “Sorare sits at the intersection of two really exciting industries in digital collectibles and fantasy sports,” said Marcelo Claure, CEO of Softbank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group. Claure added: It’s evident from Sorare’s amazing growth this year alone that football fans around the world have been eagerly waiting for the ‘game within the game.’ Sorare is not the only NFT platform seeing a large multi-million-dollar capital raise in 2021, as a number of other NFT market platforms have been raising funds. The NFT market Rarible raised over $14 million and revealed plans to launch on the Flow blockchain. Opensea raised $100 million at the end of July and became a unicorn company. Enjin obtained $20 million in a token sale for the Efinity NFT marketplace that supports the Polkadot blockchain. The Mark Cuban-backed NFT marketplace Mintable also gathered $13 million in a Series A funding round during the first week of July. What do you think about the Sorare NFT platform raising $680 million in a Series B financing round? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Stock trading and investing app Robinhood has reportedly been testing new features, including a crypto wallet and cryptocurrency transfers. “The ability to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies is tricky to do with scale, and we want to make sure it’s done correctly and properly.” Robinhood to Add Crypto Wallet and Transfer Features Investing app Robinhood is “quietly” testing several new features, Bloomberg reported Monday, describing: Robinhood Markets Inc. is testing new crypto wallet and cryptocurrency transfer features for its app. Evidence of the new features has appeared in a beta version of Robinhood’s iPhone app, the publication conveyed, adding that the planned offerings were discovered by software developer Steve Moser. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev previously said that adding a crypto wallet is a priority for the company’s developers but did not indicate when the launch would be. He said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call: It’s something that our teams are working on. The ability to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies is tricky to do with scale, and we want to make sure it’s done correctly and properly. Tenev noted that these features are particularly in demand among dogecoin (DOGE) enthusiasts. Cryptocurrency trading on Robinhood reached record levels in the second quarter, accounting for more than half of all transaction-based revenues. The meme cryptocurrency dogecoin in particular made up 62% of the crypto trading volume in the second quarter. The new crypto features are being tested as part of an “alpha program,” information within the code of the Robinhood app shows. The publication further noted that the code also revealed the company’s plans for “spare change investing and an early-deposit option for checking accounts.” What do you think about Robinhood testing new features? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On September 21, 2021, an Avalanche-based decentralized finance (defi) platform Vee Finance announced that it suffered from an incident that siphoned 8,804 ether and 213 bitcoin out of the system. The team has suspended the defi platform contracts and stressed that the stablecoins have not been “affected by the attack.” Defi Project Vee Finance Suffers a Loss of $35 Million From Hack The Avalanche (AVAX) blockchain has been a popular network in recent times and it has attracted a number of defi applications like Benqi.fi, Trader Joe, Lydia Finance, Shroom Finance, and Osiris. The Vee Finance platform is another defi platform that has gathered a number of users and coins which added to the platform’s total value locked (TVL). However, on September 21, the team explained that the project was “attacked” and updated the Vee Finance community via Twitter and an incident report. “Vee.Finance Incident Announcement,” the tweet details. “The Vee Finance team has suspended the platform contracts to ensure the safety of more users’ assets, and has suspended the deposit and borrow function. The Stablecoin section is not affected by the attack,” the disclosure further noted. Vee Finance Project Insists Stablecoins Are Safe In the incident report, the Vee Finance team disclosed that “8,804.7 ETH and 213.93 BTC were attacked.” At the time of writing, the loss equates to around $35.49 million using current bitcoin and ether exchange rates. “After investigation, the suspected attacker has launched the attack through the above address (etherscan address) and has collected the stolen assets in this address,” the Vee Finance team said. The defi project operators further insisted: The Stablecoin section is not affected by the attack. Currently, according to address monitoring, the attacker has not yet transferred or processed the stolen assets further. The Vee team is actively working to further clarify the incident and will continue to try to contact the attacker to recover the assets. The Vee Finance network attack follows an attack against the Pnetwork protocol on September 20, that saw the loss of 277 bitcoin (BTC) via the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The Avalanche network saw its first major defi attack six days ago when Zabu Finance lost $3.2 million in a hack. The Zabu Finance hacker exploited the platform’s Spore Token protocol and minted 4.5 billion zabu and withdrew the coins to a secret wallet. What do you think about the Avalanche defi platform Vee Finance getting hacked for $35 million? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has dropped its plan to launch a lending program after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) threatened to sue the company. Coinbase Will Not Launch Lending Program Coinbase announced Friday that it has decided not to launch the Lend program. The exchange wrote: Our goal is to create great products for our customers and to advance our mission to increase economic freedom in the world. As we continue our work to seek regulatory clarity for the crypto industry as a whole, we’ve made the difficult decision not to launch the USDC APY program. “We have also discontinued the waitlist for this program as we turn our work to what comes next. We had hundreds of thousands of customers from across the country sign up and we want to thank you all for your interest. We will not stop looking for ways to bring innovative, trusted programs and products to our customers,” Coinbase added. Coinbase unveiled the Lend program in June where users could “earn interest on USD coin (USDC) with rates more than 50x the national average of a traditional savings account,” the company explained at the time. The program advertised that users could earn 4% APY and the “principal is guaranteed.” However, Coinbase revealed in early September that the SEC sent the company a Wells Notice regarding its Lend program. “The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We don’t know why,” the exchange said. “The SEC told us they consider Lend to involve a security, but wouldn’t say why or how they’d reached that conclusion.” Meanwhile, Coinbase is growing its business in some other ways. Last week, the company filed an application with the National Futures Association (NFA) to offer futures and derivatives trading on its platform. Coinbase is also raising $2 billion by selling bonds. Furthermore, the exchange announced Monday that Coinbase Prime, a comprehensive platform for institutional investors, is launching with updated capabilities. What do you think about Coinbase abandoning its plan to launch a lending program? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Reports of the detention of Dmitry Vasiliev, ex-head of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Wex, have been confirmed by authorities in Poland. The former executive of the platform, allegedly involved in the theft of funds worth millions of dollars, faces possible extradition to Kazakhstan. Prosecutor’s Office Confirms Vasiliev Is in Custody in Poland Dmitry Vasiliev, who once managed the largest Russian crypto exchange, was apprehended at the Warsaw airport in early August but the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza broke the news last week, quoting undisclosed sources. A representative of the regional Prosecutor’s Office in the capital city has now confirmed the arrest to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency. The 34-year-old Russian citizen headed the now-defunct Wex, a successor of the infamous BTC-e exchange, before it was sold to a Ukrainian businessman-turned separatist fighter, Dmitry Havchenko, in late 2018. The digital asset trading platform halted withdrawals earlier that year and eventually went bankrupt. While Vasiliev officially owned Wex’s Singapore-based operator, the BBC Russian Service has previously revealed that Wex belonged to Aleksey Bilyuchenko, a partner of BTC-e alleged administrator Alexander Vinnik. The Russian IT specialist, accused of laundering up to $9 billion through BTC-e, was sentenced this past December to five years in prison by France which rejected Vinnik’s extradition to Russia. Polish police detained the former Wex CEO with help from Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization. The Warsaw Prosecutor’s Office official noted that a “request for the extradition of Dmitry V. was sent by Kazakhstan.” Vasiliev is wanted in the Central Asian country since 2019 on accusations of fraud related to the exchange. Poland is yet to decide whether to hand him over. The crypto entrepreneur has been in custody since Aug. 11, when Polish authorities placed him under temporary arrest for an initial period of 40 days. Dmitry Vasiliev is suspected of involvement in the disappearance of $450 million worth of assets belonging to citizens of EU member states and other countries around the world. On Monday, someone ordered the transfer of 9,916 ETH, worth over $30 million, from a wallet belonging to Wex, crypto news outlet Forklog reported. The transaction, still pending confirmation at the time of writing, has been initiated after 100 ETH were withdrawn from the wallet on Sept. 15. The publication noted that was the first movement of funds in the wallet in the past three years. Do you expect other countries to request Dmitry Vasiliev’s extradition? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

Crypto users access their wallets and exchanges day in and day out and making sure it remains secure is one of their top concerns. While most of these apps have great security features like multi-factor authentication and biometrics, what happens to your data while it travels through the network is still an area of concern. This is where a secure VPN with good encryption from a reliable service like PureVPN comes in. PureVPN Protects Crypto Users Online PureVPN has been in the VPN industry for more than 15 years and has the trust of more than 3 million users. With PureVPN enabled, all your network traffic gets encrypted before leaving your device using a secure 256-bit encryption making it virtually impossible for anyone to snoop into your data and hack your account. This can give you peace of mind to access your exchanges securely no matter whether you are at an airport, in a mall or any other public wifi! To enhance your security even more, PureVPN apps come with two more very important features: 1. All the apps have a Kill Switch feature which minimizes the risk to your online security in case the VPN goes down, which can happen for any reason. If and when that happens the kill switch will automatically kick in and temporarily disable all network traffic until you are connected again. 2. PureVPN also offers one of the most economical options to get a static IP! A static IP can allow you to restrict access to your account only from a specific IP. This means that even if a hacker gets access to your exchange or wallet credentials, he would not be able to access it! This effectively puts up a very strong firewall and increases your account security considerably Inevitably, with a VPN, there is a degradation in speed. PureVPN helps you counter that with its global network of more than 6500 servers spread all over the Globe in 90+ locations that provide upto 20G bandwidth! PureVPN apps are available on Windows, Mac, iPhone/iPad and Android with lightweight browser extensions available for Chrome, Brave, Firefox, Edge and all Chromium-based browsers. How Does a VPN Help Crypto Users Access Exchanges? The crypto space is evolving very fast and so is the regulatory environment around it. In the past few quarters, users have seen a lot of new regulations come up which have forced even the giants like Binance to restrict access to their services from certain regions. This is very inconvenient for users who need to access their accounts while travelling or staying in a location where the crypto trading platform is inaccessible. A VPN comes in handy here by giving you the ability to access your account from anywhere in the world just by connecting to the country of your choice. The PureVPN service has a huge global network of more than 6500 servers spread all over the Globe in 90+ locations with upto 20G bandwidth! So no matter which country you are in and which region you want to access, PureVPN got you covered! For desktop users, PureVPN integrated top exchanges inside the super friendly browser extension for Chrome, Brave, Firefox and Edge so you can access them without hassle in a single click! In addition to enabling you to access any location, a VPN also enhances your security by encrypting all the data leaving your device. With its strong 256-bit encryption, PureVPN makes sure to keep your network traffic safe from MITM (man in the middle) attacks so whether you are accessing your exchange or wallet from an airport wifi or a public wifi, your traffic remains safe. To learn more and sign up for the service visit PureVPN.com right now. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

The Zimbabwean currency’s collapse in 2008 and record hyperinflation are widely seen as textbook examples of what can go wrong with a centralized currency. For instance, some cryptocurrency enthusiasts — as well as opponents of the fiat currency system in general — have routinely pointed to the Zimdollar’s collapse when arguing for an alternative monetary system. In other instances, entrepreneurs like those behind Zimbocash, a decentralized currency and payments platform for all Zimbabweans, have already launched such an alternative. They hope that this alternative to a central bank-issued fiat currency will demonstrate to all that sound money which enables people to save is still possible. To learn more about this Zimbocash system, Bitcoin.com News reached out to Laswet Savadye, Head of Subscriber Network. Below are Savadye’s responses to questions sent to him via Whatsapp. Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Can you start by telling us what brought about this idea? Laswet Savadye (LS): We’ve been passionate about sound money. Many in the team have been exposed to Zimbabwe’s first hyperinflation and the pain of money printing, and this was further reinforced with the book When Money Destroys Nations. We are passionate about solving the problems of money printing with sound money. This is the only way for there to be sustainable savings, trade, and wealth creation on a national scale. BCN: What do you hope to achieve with the Zimbocash cryptocurrency or Zash as it is also known? LS: Our broader goal is to establish sound money for Zimbabwe — we have created money that is fixed in supply but available to all Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe has an extremely weak currency and banking system, having suffered from hyperinflation and economic malaise. We want to see the economy of Zimbabwe being transformed with sound money. The goal is for trust to be restored in the money and banking system. The Zimbocash system is based on a decentralized blockchain — a revolutionary technology that enables a fixed supply of money and a reliable payments system. BCN: Your Head of Corporate Communications, Philip Haslam, recently suggested that Zimbocash is the solution to Zimbabwe’s collapsing monetary and banking system. Does this mean your cryptocurrency will be competing with the local fiat currency? LS: Zimbcash is not competing with the local fiat currency. We believe there is room for both to co-exist. Zimbocash is not trying to replace the fiat currency, rather it comes in to complement by being an alternative currency that people can use. BCN: There have been suggestions or allegations that you essentially have two cryptocurrencies, the one that was airdropped to Zimbabwean users and the other one which is listed on the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb. How do you respond to this? LS: We do not have two cryptocurrencies. We have one and it is publicly available for all to see on tronscan https://tronscan.io/#/token/1002984. Listing on the exchange requires one to put an exchange float that will be used for buying and selling in order to come up with a reference price. BCN: Still on the same issue, there seems to be some confusion regarding the status of airdropped Zash tokens. For instance, some holders of airdropped tokens claim these cannot be traded on Bithumb. Is this correct? If so, why are you not allowing holders of airdropped Zash tokens to trade these? LS: As part of that, we need a market price and we need to attract sufficient liquidity on the exchanges to enable cross-border trade. Liquidity grows over time. It is fragile. There have been a few national airdrop systems that failed because they didn’t take the time to build the payments network directly and everyone sold directly on the exchange pushing the price down. We’ve got to work first on developing a peer-to-peer trading network, and as liquidity grows, we can open the exchange up slowly. As transactions increase, the demand locally for Zash increases. Also, as transactions increase, the demand internationally for a sound money token that has a real peer-to-peer network will grow. These two will result in increased buy liquidity on the exchange and decreased sell liquidity. It is these two forces that will enable us to increasingly open up exchange transfers. For that reason, we will be limiting the amount that users can sell. We want to see users make appropriate transactions, and we will be carefully monitoring the high-value individuals who have a lot of Zash — we want this to be used in daily trade. That said, we are pleased to announce that we have opened up transfers to the exchange for users who make the ten most transactions each month. This is a start, our goal is to increasingly open up exchange transactions gradually over time, rewarding those who make transactions. BCN: Now, the Zimbabwean Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, recently made some positive remarks about cryptocurrencies. What are your thoughts on what Minister Ncube said? LS: The Finance Minister made similar remarks in 2018, when he said “Zimbabwe should be investing in understanding innovations and often central banks are too slow in investing in these technologies.” We remain supportive of the Finance Minister’s remarks. BCN: In your opinion, do these remarks by the minister suggest that both the government and the central bank are now embracing cryptocurrencies? LS: It would be great if that was the case. This is currently a new technology and no one else has successfully enabled a blockchain with a fixed money supply for an entire nation so, in many ways, this is an innovative technology. We believe that the government is taking the right approach, i.e. a wait-and-see approach. As the market grows we believe that there will be appropriate engagement and regulation from a point of greater understanding. BCN: Many central banks in Africa are studying or are preparing to launch central bank digital currencies (CBDC). In your opinion, are central banks capable of issuing a successful or functional CBDC? LS: CBDCs do not use the principles of blockchain to fix the money supply. These CBDCs will all be linked to global CBDCs and result in the global control of the transaction. In a world where all transactions are digital and governments around the world will resort to rampant money printing. It is a major global risk right now and our goal is to resolve this issue in Zimbabwe by fixing the supply of money using blockchain technology. Everyone in Zimbabwe — the government, businesses, and ordinary people — should be able to rely on the economic system. Otherwise, the risk is that Zimbabwe gets trapped in a global central bank digital currency system that impoverishes the entire nation. BCN: Do you see a CBDC as the right solution for Zimbabwe’s currency problems? LS: In many ways, the RTGS dollar has been a form of a central bank digital currency. The two key issues are, can a CBDC be used to establish sound money where no one can increase the money supply, and can a CBDC be created that isn’t ultimately controlled by offshore powers. BCN: Lastly, you have been on the ground for some time now. In your opinion, are Zimbabweans ready for digital currencies? LS: Zimbabweans are more than ready for digital currencies. RTGS dollars is digital and the people have had much-needed practice from using current mobile wallets such as Ecocash and Onemoney. We’re seeing a lot of excitement about the Zimbocash system and we believe we have an opportunity to establish something really unique in the world. What are your thoughts about this interview? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

A South Korean province has seized cryptocurrencies worth over $5 million from 1,661 investors who were more than $12 million in arrears on their fines in total. The seizure followed an investigation of nearly 30,000 companies and individuals as well as their cryptocurrency holdings at four exchanges. Korean Province Confiscates Cryptocurrencies for Unpaid Fines The South Korean province of Gyeonggi, the most populous province in the country, announced last week that it had seized 6.1 billion won ($5.14 million) in cryptocurrencies from 1,661 people who were 14.4 billion won in arrears on their fines in total. The authorities explained that from May to August last year, they conducted an investigation of 29,656 companies and individuals who were delinquent on their payments of 1 million won or more under the category of “nontaxable income.” This includes examining their cryptocurrency holdings at four exchanges. Nontaxable income in South Korea refers to income imposed and collected in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act, such as government fees and administrative fines. For example, a clothing wholesaler did not pay the enforcement fees of 20 million won imposed on him last year for illegally building an extension to his factory. However, the investigation revealed that he had 500 million won in cryptocurrency. The CEO of a frozen food company in Namyangju had 600 million won in cryptocurrency even after paying 40 million won in arrears, including the enforcement fee imposed for illegally changing his business establishment to a warehouse in 2017. The owner of a local real estate rental company, who had been 50 million won in arrears since 2018 for building illegal extensions and making land quality changes, owned 60 million won in cryptocurrency. Kim Min-kyung, head of Gyeonggi’s taxation department, was quoted by local media as saying: It is the largest amount of cryptocurrency seizure in the country for nontaxable income delinquents. While this seizure may be the largest under the nontaxable income category, the province has seized more cryptocurrencies before. In June, the government of Gyeonggi Province reportedly seized cryptocurrencies worth more than 53 billion won from about 12,000 people who were delinquent on their tax payments. What do you think about Korean authorities seizing cryptocurrencies for unpaid fines? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services including Bitfinex, Muun, Okex, Lnmarkets, Southxchange, and Walletofsatoshi. The Reddit post published by Reckless Satoshi on September 18, 2021. Reckless Satoshi said the attack was “cheap, but not free,” and a “simple attack.” After depositing funds into the custodial services, Reckless Satoshi used “a node that will be routing the payments between the custodial service and the receiving node.” The attack’s parameters according to the Github code published by Reckless Satoshi. “If a positive net return is possible, then it is just a matter of optimizing the size of the fee collected and the transaction speed rate to see how big the damage could be,” Reckless Satoshi added. “It is easy to see how this attack must be feasible on any service with [a] free withdrawal fee.” Reckless Satoshi also published his attack to the code repository site Github. After explaining how he placed a node in the middle, the researcher added: This is one of the simplest attacks. In fact, the only LN attack I can think of, but also I am just a newbie in the process of learning. I assume there are people out there much more capable of conducting this research. Who knows, maybe there have been sizable losses in the past that remain undisclosed. Lightning Network Total Value Locked at $112 Million, Up Over 100% Since the End of July The visitors who read Reckless Satoshi’s forum thread thanked him for conducting the research and disclosing the bugs to specific custodial LN providers. “I’m glad to see that people are not hacking/exploiting the system just for malicious purposes or to make quick profit out of it,” an individual wrote in response to the disclosure. Moreover, a number of Redditors discussing Reckless Satoshi’s findings argued over what they should call the attack. The Lightning Network total value locked (TVL) on Monday, September 20, 2021, according to defipulse.com stats. At the time of writing, the Lightning Network has seen its total value locked (TVL) slide by 9.3% during the last 24 hours. However, since July 20, 2021, the LN TVL jumped over 100% from $56 million that day to today’s (2,600+ BTC) $112 million TVL held in the Lightning Network. Much of the 9.3% TVL slide on LN is due to the recent crypto market rout on Monday morning, September 20, as the crypto economy has slid 9% in value during the last 24 hours. What do you think about the Lightning Network attack described by the Redditor Reckless Satoshi? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

The Bitcoin.com Team is excited to announce the integration of ERC-20 tokens into the Bitcoin.com Wallet. That means anyone can now buy, sell, receive, store, trade, and send ERC-20 tokens with the convenience and security of the industry’s most user-friendly non-custodial wallet. ERC-20 Tokens? ERC-20 is the standard protocol for creating tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. There are over 450,000 sets of ERC-20 tokens as of 2021 and they collectively represent hundreds of billions of dollars in value. All ERC-20 tokens “live” on Ethereum, meaning they benefit from the security of the second-largest blockchain by marketcap and are composable with smart contracts. Curated ERC-20 Support Any and all Ethereum-compatible tokens sent to your Bitcoin.com Wallet’s Ethereum addresses are safe and secure. However, since there are hundreds of thousands of ERC-20 tokens out there, it’s not practical to display them all in the Wallet. That’s why we’re starting off by ‘tracking’ a selection of the most widely used ERC-20 tokens. For instance, when you open the wallet, you’ll now have quick access to the US dollar crypto ‘stablecoins‘ USDT and USDC. Additionally, the wallet will track five other major ERC-20 tokens at the outset. These are Uniswap, Wrapped BTC, Compound, Yearn Finance, and Sushiswap. Lock in Profits with The Most Popular USD-Pegged Stablecoins With USDT and USDC now supported, you can swap out of more volatile cryptoassets like Bitcoin and Ethereum to, for instance, lock in profits if you think the market is overheated. Then trade back into the coins you think are due for a run. Buy and Sell Stablecoins With Cash If you’re in a supported region, you can buy USDT and USDC in the Bitcoin.com Wallet using local currency (by credit card etc.). If you’re resident in the US, UK, or EU, you can sell USDT or USDC and receive local currency straight to your bank account. Send, Receive, and Swap The Bitcoin.com Wallet supports all other functions of ERC-20 tokens for all users. That means you can send and receive them, swap them for any of the other cryptoassets in the Wallet, and of course store them securely. Your Cryptoassets, in Your Control Bitcoin.com is committed to supporting economic freedom, which is why our wallet is fully non-custodial. That means you’re in complete control of your crypto. No need to ask permission from a centralized exchange to instantly send your assets wherever you want, whenever you want. You’ll never be ‘deplatformed,’ and you have no exposure to the risk of a third party getting hacked or going bankrupt. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility, so don’t forget to back up the ‘keys’ to your wallet and adhere to password management best practices. The Bitcoin.com Wallet is Now on Web/Desktop Too If you’re already using the Bitcoin.com Wallet on mobile, you can leverage your existing account to see and interact with your assets in a desktop-class dashboard. Track your portfolio and get real-time market data; receive, swap, buy & sell crypto – all from the spacious real estate of your desktop, tablet, or any browser-enabled device. View the full article

Global investors have their eyes peeled on the Evergrande Group or the Evergrande Real Estate Group, China’s second-largest property developer by sales. Evergrande Group shares nosedived on Monday dropping to 11-year lows and many analysts and economists are concerned about a possible credit contagion. Credit problems with China’s real estate industry have affected global markets a great deal as European and U.S. stocks have slid during Asia’s overnight. Evergrande Group’s Counterparty Risk and Liquidity Shocks Could Spark a Credit Contagion on a Global Level Many people woke to the news of China’s Evergrande Group losing a significant amount of its market capitalization as the company’s shares dive-bombed to an 11-year low. While Evergrande losses can’t take down the economy alone, but it could cause a domino effect like the collapse of Lehman Brothers did during the 2007-2010 financial crisis. The domino effect is called a “credit contagion” and signs of this occurring are already happening. Other mega Hong Kong and China-based real estate giants are feeling the heat of Evergrande Group’s losses and the possibility of the firm defaulting. Hong Kong’s Henderson Land Development Co. saw a significant selloff and Ping An Insurance Group Co. also saw shares tumble. The Hang Seng Tech Index plunged in value on Monday morning as the news roiled markets. Analysts and economists believe that the debt from Evergrande could move to other lenders and bond markets in the near future. The problem with Evergrande and China's property bubble is that all the Keynesian 'solutions', liquidity injections and bailouts have already happened. It is not an issue of liquidity but of solvency. — Daniel Lacalle (@dlacalle_IA) September 20, 2021 Basically, a credit contagion happens when counterparty risk and liquidity shocks take place in the market and it causes creditors to deleverage their positions and move to safer venues. Zero Hedge columnist Tyler Durden explained that the market is expecting China’s Evergrande Group to default on a number of payments which will spark a significant domino effect across global markets. Sinic Holdings Group (2103HK) Contagion: Another Chinese real estate development company down over 90% this morning. #Evergrande pic.twitter.com/g8CorYBDSE — T O'Mahony (@TurboCBDC) September 20, 2021 “Speaking of Evergrande’s imminent default,” Durden wrote on Monday. “We noted earlier that while the company is scheduled to pay $83.5 million of interest on Sept. 23 for its offshore March 2022 bond, and then has another $47.5 million interest payment due on Sept. 29 for March 2024, the day of reckoning may come as soon as Tuesday: that’s because Evergrande is scheduled to pay interest on bank loans Monday, with a one-day grace period,” the author added. Durden’s critique of Evergrande solvency continues: In other words, should it fail to arrange an extension, it could be in technical default as soon as Tuesday (for a much more detailed analysis of next steps please see This Is How Contagion From Evergrande’s Default Will Spread To The Rest Of The World.) Spoiler alert: a default is coming because Chinese authorities have already told major lenders not to expect repayment. So far, Bloomberg and Durden’s Zerohedge have reported on at least eight investment-grade companies that have pulled their bond offerings over the Evergrande crisis. Moreover, Durden and many others predicted Evergrande’s falter months ago as one person tweeted: “Evergrande bond flush update. If you’re wondering why you should care… you will learn soon” on July 20, 2021. Janet Yellen’s Plea to Raise the Debt Ceiling Before Possible October Default Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has shown that she is concerned about defaults. On Sunday, Yellen asked lawmakers in Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling and said that if the U.S. defaults on debt it could be disastrous by compounding on top of the Covid-19 pandemic effects. “We would emerge from this crisis a permanently weaker nation,” Yellen stressed. While Evergrande’s imminent default is being predicted, Yellen said the U.S. could default by October. At that time, the Treasury will have exhausted all the cash reserves it has on hand and will be limited by the debt ceiling, the Treasury secretary said. “We can borrow more cheaply than almost any other country, and defaulting would jeopardize this enviable fiscal position. It would also make America a more expensive place to live, as the higher cost of borrowing would fall on consumers,” Yellen explained. “Mortgage payments, car loans, credit card bills—everything that is purchased with credit would be costlier after default.” Dear @federalreserve can we just skip the drama and go to the part where you start buying ETFs and stocks? Everyone knows it's coming — zerohedge (@zerohedge) September 20, 2021 On Monday, U.S. stocks like the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, NYSE, and more dropped a great deal in value during the morning trading sessions and have continued to sink lower as the day continues. Gold markets dropped to lows not seen in six months and the crypto economy shed more than $250 billion in 24 hours time. What do you think about global markets getting roiled by Evergrande Group’s default fears? What do you think about Janet Yellen’s call to raise the United States’ debt ceiling? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

A crypto investor has filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. after she downloaded a malicious application from the company’s App Store that led to the theft of her cryptocurrencies. Apple Sued Over Theft of Cryptocurrency Due to Malicious App Hadona Diep, a resident of the U.S. state of Maryland and a full-time cyber-security IT professional, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. She alleges that the company authorized and maintained “a malicious application” in its App Store despite knowledge of the criminal activity. In addition, the company failed to notify her and the class members that their financial information had been compromised. The lawsuit explains that “Because Plaintiff knew, or at least thought she knew, that Apple thoroughly vets applications before it allowed them on the App Store, Plaintiff downloaded the application known as Toast Plus from the Apple App Store on or about March of 2020 onto her iPhone.” The plaintiff believed that “Toast Plus was a version of Toast Wallet, a well-known cryptocurrency wallet, as the names were similar and the logo used for the application in the App Store was the same or nearly identical.” In January 2018, the plaintiff transferred about 474 XRP from crypto exchange Bittrex to a secure crypto wallet called Rippex. However, Rippex shut down a month later so the plaintiff accessed her coins through the secured wallet and “linked her private XRP key, or a seed phrase, into Toast Plus in March of 2021.” The court document notes: As Plaintiff intended to hold the XRP as an investment and not to actively trade it, she did not check the Toast Wallet Plus application after entering her seed phrase into it. In August of 2021, Plaintiff checked her account on Toast Plus, and discovered that not only did she have no XRP in the wallet, her account was ‘deleted’ on March 3, 2021. Diep began investigating the matter and discovered that “Toast Plus was not in fact a version of the legitimate Toast Wallet application, but was instead a ‘spoofing’ or ‘phishing’ program created for the sole purpose of stealing cryptocurrency, by obtaining consumers’ cryptocurrency account information and thereafter routing the same to the hackers’ personal accounts.” The plaintiff claims that Apple violated a number of laws, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Maryland Personal Information Protection and Consumer Protection Acts, and each state’s Personal Information Protection and Consumer Protection Acts. The plaintiff seeks for the “Award [of] statutory, actual, or compensatory damages” to her and the class “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” She also seeks “reasonable compensation for serving as a class representative” and “pre- and post- judgment interest at the legal rate,” as well as any “further relief as the court deems just and proper.” What do you think about this lawsuit? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

El Salvador, the country that made bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar, has purchased more bitcoin. The Salvadoran government now holds 700 coins, according to President Nayib Bukele. El Salvador Buys the Dip El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, announced early Monday morning that his government has purchased 150 more bitcoins. The country’s bitcoin law went into effect on Sept. 7 making the cryptocurrency legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar. He tweeted: “We just bought the dip. 150 new coins! El Salvador now holds 700 coins.” “They can never beat you if you buy the dips … Presidential advice,” he further wrote. The price of bitcoin was hovering around $45K when he made the announcement. It has since dropped to $43,326 at the time of writing based on data from Bitcoin.com Markets. El Salvador started buying bitcoin on Sept. 6 ahead of the bitcoin law taking effect. On Sept. 7, Bukele announced that his country had bought a total of 550 bitcoins. According to cryptocurrency ATM tracking website Coinatmradar.com, El Salvador now has 205 crypto ATM locations, making it the country with the third-highest number of crypto ATMs, behind only the U.S. and Canada. However, there are reports that the Salvadoran Court of Accounts is planning to investigate the government’s bitcoin ATM purchases and Chivo kiosk construction. The launch of the government’s bitcoin wallet, the Chivo wallet, was off to a rocky start. However, on Sept. 16, Bukele claimed that the Chivo app is “already working 100%” According to reports, remittance providers like Moneygram and Western Union could lose up to $400 million annually if the Chivo wallet is used more. On Friday, Bukele tweeted that 1.1 million Salvadorans already use the Chivo wallet, adding that “we haven’t enabled 65% of phone models yet.” He opined: It seems that we will be able to bank more people in 1 month than they did with nationalizations and privatizations of traditional banks in 40 years. What do you think about El Salvador buying more bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Crypto markets have dropped a great deal in value over the last 24 hours as crypto assets across the board have lost anywhere between 7-15% in value during this time period. The overall market valuation of all 10,000+ crypto-assets in existence has slid just below the $2 trillion handle, losing over 9% in value during the last 24 hours. Crypto Economy Slips by 9% During the Last 24 Hours Bitcoin (BTC) prices were above the $48K zone on Sunday, September 19, but the following day, BTC prices are much lower as the crypto asset dropped to a low of $42,660 per unit on Monday. BTC has shed 8.9% in value and the digital asset’s market valuation is around $815 billion today. At the time of writing, a single BTC is swapping for just above $43K per coin. The second-leading crypto asset, ethereum (ETH) has dropped 10.3% in value during the last day and each ether is exchanging hands for just above $3K per unit. ETH has an overall market valuation of around $355.4 billion on Monday. The biggest loser out of the top ten crypto-asset market positions is XRP, shedding 13.8% during the course of the last day. Bitcoin’s (BTC) 8% loss is the least of all the percentage losses on Monday. Just before BTC’s slide below $45K, Etoro’s crypto analyst discussed the current market events. “Bitcoin and ether both experienced a weekend slip after a week of climbing back to previous highs,” Simon Peters, Etoro’s crypto analyst wrote in a note to Bitcoin.com News on Monday morning. “BTC began the week below $45,000 after the flash crash of the week before. Having risen across the week to near $49,000 levels the price collapsed again on Sunday, falling away to now trade around $45,500.” Peters added: Likewise, ETH began the week trading around $3,200 before rising to a high of $3,652 on Thursday. The token began a decline earlier than bitcoin though, falling away from Thursday and across the weekend to now trade below $3,200, a 13% decline. Cosmos Remains Unscathed, Fears of Economic Turmoil Stemming from Evergrande Collapse and Default Risks Rise Overall, the entire crypto market cap has lost over 9% in fiat value between Sunday and Monday. The top coins being traded include nine different stablecoins. Besides the stablecoin action today, the coin that took the least amount of fiat loss is cosmos (ATOM). Cosmos only lost 0.9% on Monday and is up over 9% for the last seven days. The biggest loser today is Algorand (ALGO) losing 16.6% during the last 24 hours. Cryptocurrency markets have followed the drop across all global markets on Monday as a few warnings of economic turmoil have arisen. For instance, news outlets detail that the U.S. may default on financial obligations which could turn into another financial crisis. The secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Janet Yellen, has warned of a debt ceiling fallout. Furthermore, global stock markets are in the red over China Evergrande shares dropping like a rock. Evergrande shares saw an 11-year low and speculators have claimed the Evergrande collapse could be like the next Lehman Brothers crisis. What do you think about the market rout amid the global market meltdown over default risks and China Evergrande shares? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

In recent months NFT or as it coded, non-fungible tokens became a hot topic that everyone is talking about. NFT is a valuable model of digital ownership from which you could make money. If you have paper money or money in your bank accounts, you can buy, rent, sell, invest and be an active player of the world’s stock exchange game. Same thing could be said about NFT’s, which could be bought with the help of cryptocurrencies, in most instances within blockchain Ethereum. With so many word’s eyes being on the new and promising technology NFT’s value rises significantly on the word’s stock exchange market too as you could see investors making moves and prices going up and down. With NFT’s being digital assets and representing real-world objects from art, to game items, you could expect that everything you buy with them, will forever stay in the digital world. However, the upcoming new project – fantasy game “Spellfire” is willing and ready to be the wind of change in that matter. “Spellfire” suggests unique experience of owning in-game cards in real life “Spellfire” is a fantasy game that presents players with unique experiences in the magical world consisting of lands like Bloodborn, Wet desserts or The Holy Deadlands. Many players could dive into a world full of bewitchment that will probably remind you of your favorite fantasy movies or series. Kings and witches, good guys and evil forces, wars and treasons, here you will have everything that a great fantasy game should have and apparently even more. The digital version of the game suggests hundreds of carefully and artistically designed game cards that represent different characters within several distinctive levels. With these kinds of games, usually everything stays in the digital world, however, with NFT gaining it’s momentum, the minds behind the “Spellfire” take a revolutionary road and present the ability to buy real world cards of the game. The most loyal and engaged fans or people who maybe see the collecting benefits may buy game cards with NFT. Being the digital ledger in a certain way similar to the cryptocurrencies, each NFT is unique and in this instance, could represent real life goods, like a game card. You could have it at home, real as any other thing you buy with money, but in the digital world one card could be highly valuable and simply make you money on its own. Fighting evil monsters and making bank never been so easy If more people are engaging in the market, selling, buying and reselling, prices go up and you could make more money. In this instance, let’s say you bought “Spellfire’s” Arcana: Fire card which is interactive and upgradable. After some time, you decide to sell it, you look at the market prices and activities and you follow the moment when prices peak the most: then it is time to sell. In this way, having real cards makes the whole experience way better and almost surreal. Players don’t only have part of the virtual world with them but could also see what is helping them make money. Spellfire allows everyone involved to become a part of revolution, which connects the past with the future. You own quite a common game card but in reality, you are involved in something surreal and futuristic. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

On September 17, the largest non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in terms of volume, Opensea, announced the launch of the platform’s mobile application. Opensea marketplace users can now access a wide variety of NFT collections on their smartphones by downloading the application from Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store. Opensea Launches Mobile App for iOS and Android Phones According to marketplace statistics from dappradar.com, Opensea is the largest NFT market in terms of global trade volume. All-time statistics indicate that Opensea has seen 625,620 traders and $6.53 billion in volume. Axie Infinity and the Cryptopunks NFT collection fall behind Opensea’s volume as Axie Infinity has seen $2.11 billion and Cryptopunks has gathered $1.31 billion. In recent times, Opensea has added Polygon (MATIC) support and toward the end of July, the leading marketplace announced a $100 million capital raise. Opensea has continued to see record sales but on September 15, the company announced that an employee was caught leveraging insider information to trade. The NFT market’s management detailed that Opensea team members “may not buy or sell from collections or creators” while they are being promoted by Opensea. Furthermore, “Opensea team members are prohibited from using confidential information to purchase or sell any NFTs, whether available on the Opensea platform or not,” the team detailed last week. Opensea Says It Saw Significant Demand for a Mobile App, Leading NFT Marketplace Has a Great Deal of Competition Two days later, Opensea announced the launch of the platform’s mobile application which is available for iOS and Android operating systems. “The calls for a mobile app have been growing, and we’ve been hard at work bringing it to life,” Opensea said on Friday. “Making NFTs more available to all is one of our core missions here at OpenSea, and we believe this is a big step in an exciting direction. NFTs in the palm of your hand.” Opensea is not the only marketplace on the block and the leading market does have a lot of competition. While Opensea’s volumes are massive, NFT markets like Rarible, Superrare, Makersplace, Foundation, Mintable, Atomicwallet, and more are selling NFTs regularly. Moreover, NFT markets on other blockchains like Avalanche, Solana, and Tezos are selling too. A few of these marketplaces have also had capital raises in 2021. Opensea’s mobile application will likely expand the platform’s reach and the company says it aims to improve the app over time. What do you think about Opensea releasing a mobile application for its NFT marketplace? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Following threats from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the management of Abokifx, a website that tracks the Nigerian currency’s black market exchange rates, has announced the suspension of their daily updates. This suspension will remain in effect until Abokifx gets “better clarity of the situation,” management said on September 17, 2021. Tracking of Parallel Market Rates ‘Undermining’ Nigerian Economy Abokifx’s decision came shortly after the end of the CBN’s monetary policy committee meeting on the same day. In his remarks to journalists following the meeting, governor Godwin Emefiele accused the publisher of the tracking site, Oniwinde Adedotun, of carrying out an “illegal activity that undermines the economy.” In addition, Emefiele suggested that the CBN was now tracking down Adedotun whom it accuses of “publishing arbitrary rates without contacting Bureaux de Change.” However, in its own statement, Abokifx rejects the allegations the site is orchestrating the naira’s fall on the parallel market. The statement explains that Abokifx, which was established in 2014, is doing what it was set up to do — conducting market research and gathering data on the parallel market rates. In a direct response to Emefiele’s allegations, Abokifx also denies that some of its personnel are fueling the naira’s freefall. The statement explained: Abokifx purely provides benchmark parallel rate information which helps guide users in almost 200 countries across the world. Abokifx does not trade forex, which we have always maintained in our emails and social media platforms. Abokifx Accounts Not Yet Closed Furthermore, Abokifx insists in the statement that it neither trades forex nor has the power to manipulate rates. Instead, the rate tracking site only publishes what it sources on the streets of Lagos and according to what was gathered on September 17, the naira had plunged to a new low of N570 versus one U.S. dollar. Abokifx claims that “outside the media allegation,” it has not received “any communication from any government body and our accounts are not closed as stipulated in the media.” It is unclear whether the CBN actually plans to apprehend Adedotun who is believed to be in the United Kingdom. Do you agree with what Emefiele has said about Abokifx? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

An AT&T customer filed a lawsuit against the company last week accusing it of failing to provide “reasonable and appropriate security to prevent unauthorized access to its customer wireless accounts.” This has led to the theft of cryptocurrency from the plaintiff’s crypto exchange account. AT&T Sued by Crypto Investor An AT&T customer, Jamarquis Etheridge, filed a lawsuit in the district court for the Southern District of Texas against AT&T Inc. and AT&T Mobility LLC Wednesday. Etheridge, a resident of the U.S. state of Texas, has been a customer of AT&T since 2009. He claims to be a victim of “SIM swapping,” also known as “SIM hijacking.” SIM swapping is a common scam that AT&T is no stranger to. The company was involved in a bigger case involving this scam last year with crypto investor Michael Terpin. The court document filed by Etheridge’s attorney, Richard E. Brown, states that on or about Sept. 10, 2020, AT&T “allowed wrongdoers access to plaintiff Etheridge’s wireless account and, without his authorization,” alleging: AT&T was unable to contain this security breach until the next day, enabling wrongdoers to drain plaintiff Etheridge’s cryptocurrency exchange account. He further alleges that “AT&T was well aware of the pervasive harm posed by SIM swapping,” as the company previously issued public advisories warning customers of the industry-wide threat of this type of scam. Etheridge also said that AT&T assured customers that it was exercising adequate measures to prevent unauthorized SIM swapping from happening to its account holders. Nonetheless, the court document reads: AT&T engages in practices that … fail to provide reasonable and appropriate security to prevent unauthorized access to its customer wireless accounts, allowing unauthorized persons to be authenticated and then granted access to sensitive customer wireless account data, including access and control over 159.8 ethereum tokens. After the incident, the price of ether reached more than $4,200 per coin, the court document notes. At the time of writing, the price of ETH has fallen to $3,338. The plaintiff claims that as a result of AT&T’s actions or inactions, he has suffered and continues to suffer actual damages, including the loss of 159.8 ETH, lost time, embarrassment and humiliation, aggravation and frustration, fear, anxiety, financial uncertainty, unease, emotional distress, and various expenses. In addition to seeking “compensatory and equitable relief restoring him” to 159.8 ETH, he also seeks relief for statutory damages, treble damages, punitive damages, award for attorney fees and reimbursement of all costs, “pre-and post-judgment interest on any amounts awarded,” and any other relief the court deems just and proper. What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The founder of two cryptocurrency hedge funds in New York, Stefan Qin, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison and three years of supervised release. He is also ordered to forfeit about $55 million. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said that he “engaged in a scheme to steal assets” from his hedge funds and defraud investors. Crypto Hedge Fund Founder Gets 7.5 Years in Jail Stefan Qin, the founder of two cryptocurrency hedge funds in New York, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week. Qin, a 24-year-old Australian national, founded the Virgil Sigma Fund and the VQR Multistrategy Fund, which claimed to have over $100 million dollars in investments. He pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud on Feb. 4 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against him in December last year. According to the DOJ, Qin was sentenced Wednesday to 90 months in prison. The Department of Justice explained that between 2017 and 2020, Qin owned and controlled the two cryptocurrency investment funds. “Until recently, Virgil Sigma purported to have over $90 million under management from dozens of investors, including many in the United States,” the Department said. “Until recently, VQR had at least approximately $24 million under management from investors.” The DOJ detailed: Since 2017, Qin engaged in a scheme to steal assets from Virgil Sigma and defraud its investors. Rather than investing the fund’s assets in a cryptocurrency arbitrage trading strategy as advertised, Qin embezzled investor capital from Virgil Sigma and used the funds for purposes other than the purported arbitrage trading strategy. Qin also attempted to steal assets from VQR as Bitcoin.com News previously reported. The DOJ explained that Qin’s two cryptocurrency funds “have ceased operations and the liquidation and distribution of assets is being handled by a court-appointed receiver in the matter of S.E.C. v. Qin, 20 Civ. 10849,” adding: Qin, 24, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $54,793,532. Do you think Qin should go to prison for 7.5 years? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin’s hashrate has been climbing higher during the last two weeks, hitting 174 exahash per second (EH/s) on two occasions since June 28. Currently, Bitcoin’s network hashrate is coasting along at 158 EH/s, up 128% since the low 83 days ago when it hit 69 EH/s. Meanwhile, unknown hashrate has subsided a great deal as 96% of the mystery miners recorded at the end of June have disappeared. Bitcoin Hashrate Gathers Strength Since the End of June Approximately 83 days or over two months ago, Bitcoin’s hashrate had slid to a low of 69 exahash per second (EH/s) on June 28. The slide was initiated by the crackdown in China against Chinese mining operations and a great majority of facilities were forced to relocate. Even well before the Chinese government’s crackdown, Chinese miners were already relocating and the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) project’s research indicated that by April 2021, China’s hashrate dominance was down to 46%. Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate data on Sunday, September 19, 2021, indicates the overall hashrate is around 158 exahash per second (EH/s). Since June 28, Bitcoin’s hashrate has increased a great deal, climbing 128% during the last 83 days. On two occasions, the hashrate jumped to 174 EH/s on August 23, and to 173.7 EH/s on September 14. At the time of writing, the hashrate is around 158 EH/s and has been maintaining above the 125 EH/s zone for the last two weeks. A number of other hashrates, stemming from various mineable blockchains, have also risen dramatically. Ethereum’s overall hashrate was down to 504 terahash per second (TH/s) over two months ago and today it is 740 TH/s. Ethereum’s hashrate has increased roughly 46.82% since June 25, 2021. Bitcoin Difficulty Expected to Rise Again, Unknown Hashrate Exits the Network Bitcoin (BTC) is also expecting an increase in difficulty again after four consecutive increases in mining difficulty since block height 693,504. BTC’s network hashrate jumped every two weeks with increases of 6.03%, 7.31%, 13.24%, and 4.54% as of block height 699,552. Metrics show the current difficulty is 18.42 trillion and in less than two days, an increase is expected to happen. At current hashrate speeds, the change is estimated to be around 3.52% higher than today at 19.06 trillion. BTC is becoming more difficult to mine and at 19.06 trillion it is slowly approaching the difficulty seen prior to June 13, 2021. Prior to this date, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty was above the 20 trillion zone and was far more difficult to find blocks since January 9, 2021 at block height 665,280. Before BTC block height 665,280, the mining difficulty was 18.6 trillion or lower. Today, the top three mining pools dedicating hashrate to the BTC chain include F2pool with 26.06 EH/s, Antpool with 22.68 EH/s, and Poolin with 21.46 EH/s. Interestingly, unknown hashrate or stealth miners have subsided to 306.55 petahash per second (PH/s) or 0.22% of the network. For some contrast, on June 22, 2021, unknown hashrate captured around 10 EH/s of Bitcoin hashpower at that time and over 12% of the global SHA256 hashrate. The metrics show that the 10,000 PH/s drop to 306.55 PH/s means 96.93% of the stealth hashrate has mostly disappeared over the course of 89 days. What do you think about the steady Bitcoin hashrate increase during the last few months? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

ADALend is building a scalable and decentralized lending protocol on Cardano, governed by the community. Cardano is the market leader in PoS as a collection of protocols for economic support to billions of people. Over the last decade, the decentralized Finance (DeFi) space has been forced to evolve to keep pace with the development of the digital asset market. ADALend protocol will power foundational the new wave of flexible financial markets by providing a layer for instant loan approval, automated collateral, trustless custody, and liquidity. What is Cardano? Cardano aims to be the world’s financial operating system by establishing decentralized financial products. Cardano ADA is the market leader in PoS as a collection of protocols for economic support to billions of people. ADALend protocol will power foundational the new wave of flexible financial markets by providing a layer for instant loan approval, automated collateral, trust-less custody, and liquidity. What’s the benefits? Permission-less Lend on any pairing. ADALend governance will ensure that the best offers are available and that only the safest oracles are used. Incentivized Liquidity Liquidity is predicated on having enough assets in each pool in order to facilitate lending. ADALend addresses this requirement by incentivizing users to deposit assets and provide liquidity. Community Governance Token holders can establish consensus by voting on governance proposals or introducing new proposals for a vote. Ecosystem Foundation Layer Attract assets and build incentives that can empower an ecosystem of financial products. Secure Cardano is a proof of stake protocol that ensures mathematically proven safety. Given the increased number of cyberattacks in the crypto sector, security is crucial. Academic backing Cardano benefits from being one of few coins that have been reviewed by academics who largely praise it. Multiple layers Cardano ensures unlimited scalability and quick transactions by implementing a settlement and a computational layer. Third-generation blockchain Cardano is considered more reliable than other cryptocurrencies as ADA keeps overcoming challenges other platforms have encountered. Seed round oversubscribed 400% As a reflection of the huge demand for high quality Cardano native DeFi projects, and the perfect timing with the launch of ADA smart contracts around the corner with the Alonzo upgrade, the ADALend seed round was 400% oversubscribed, and those who did not make it into the seed stage have been whitelisted for the private sale. Seven private angel investors have purchased the entire seed allocation of 1.8 Million Cardano native ADAL tokens for $540,000. The ADALend project is majorly developing and gaining more and more attention. Look out for more. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Personal asset declarations filed by politicians and government officials in Ukraine have indicated that many have made significant investments in cryptocurrency. However, some of them have been unable to prove ownership or account for their digital holdings, local media reported. Lawmaker Loses Over 40 BTC With Stolen Vehicle in Ukraine Dmitry Gurin, a member of Ukrainian parliament from President Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, has allegedly lost a serious amount of cryptocurrency to car thieves, according to an audit of his 2020 declaration quoted by the “Slovo i Dilo” portal. The deputy claims the digital money was stored on a hardware wallet that disappeared with his car which was stolen earlier this year. Data filed by the lawmaker revealed his wife, Maria Saltykova, had 42 BTC last year worth an estimated 22.5 million hryvnia (around $840,000 at current hryvnia rates or over $2 million at BTC prices at the time of writing), Forklog reported. Ukraine’s National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) said Gurin had not submitted any documents confirming the accuracy of this information. The parliamentarian, who in the past decade ran his own advertising company, provided a verbal explanation, stating the vehicle was stolen on April 21, along with the crypto wallet keeping the coins. He added that the case is under investigation by the police department in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Gurin is not an exception in the Ukrainian political elite. Earlier in September, news came out that the head of the State Regulatory Service (SRS), Oleksiy Kucher, had failed to prove ownership of an even bigger crypto stash. According to his declaration filed in December, when he left the post of Governor of Kharkiv Oblast, Kucher had 77 BTC worth about 13.1 million hryvnia at the time of purchase (almost $490,000 at current hryvnia rates.) If the coins were sold at the time of writing, they would have returned more than $3.7 million. Tax returns show the official and his family members have earned less than 1 million hryvnia (approx. $37,000) in wages during the last two decades since 2001. NAPC believes this indicates that Kucher has filed false information regarding his possession of the cryptocurrency. In a press release dated Sept. 6, the agency elaborated: Bitcoin has a public address which confirms that it belongs to a certain person. The head of the SRS was unable to provide a public cryptocurrency address. In their 2020 assets declarations, 652 officials in Ukraine have admitted to owning a total of 46 351 BTC (worth more than $2.2 billion now) among other cryptocurrencies such as ETH, LTC, BCH, and XMR, the Opendatabot platform, which monitors public registries, has revealed. This spring, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption promised to verify these numbers. Do you expect more Ukrainian officials to fail to prove ownership of declared cryptocurrency assets? Tell us in the comments section below. View the full article

Ameer and Raees Cajee, the two directors of the South African crypto-investment platform, Africrypt, are set to participate in an inquest that seeks to seal the fate of the collapsed firm. The Death Threats According to an Itweb report, the Cajee brothers — who have agreed to testify on October 19 and 20 — will only do so virtually. The report confirms that both Ameer and Raees, who have already received several death threats, were initially scheduled to appear before the inquiry in the second week of September 2021. However, this was postponed after the lawyer for the Cajee brothers requested “an extension in order to consult further with their clients.” The report also reveals that other Africrypt executives like the former compliance officer, Daniel Opperman, Wayne Naidoo (director), and Steve Miller (manager) have already given their testimony via a virtual platform. For instance, in his testimony, Opperman is reported to have told the inquiry that he only became aware of the hack into Africrypt’s system via media reports. As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Africrypt collapsed a few weeks after Ameer and Raees had informed investors of the hacking event. However, following Africrypt’s collapse and the directors’ disappearance, some aggrieved investors successfully applied to have the company liquidated. Africrypt’s Defense Still, in an affidavit in which he opposes the granting of the final liquidation order, Raees insists “the liquidator’s application had been taken out against the wrong company.” He even claims that clients had in fact “signed investment contracts not with Africrypt but with an entity called Raee Create Wealth.” However, as the Itweb report notes, “bank statements obtained by Tayfin Forensic Investigative Auditors revealed that all transactions made to Africrypt were moved to Raee Create Wealth.” The report adds that this evidence is now expected to appear in the forensic report on Africrypt. What are your thoughts about this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

Central Bank of Russia is now working with commercial banks in order to delay payments made to digital asset exchanges. The move aims to limit “emotional” cryptocurrency purchases made by “unqualified” Russian investors, a CBR official revealed. The move is likely to affect peer-to-peer and over-the-counter trading platforms. Central Bank of Russia Skeptical of Cryptocurrency Investments Bank of Russia remains skeptical about the acquisition of cryptocurrencies and will not support increasing access to crypto markets for Russian investors, most of whom are not accredited, the bank’s Deputy Chairman Sergei Shvetsov stated this week, quoted by Prime business news agency. Speaking at the “Banks of Russia – XXI Century” international banking forum, the high-ranking official elaborated: When it comes to buying [cryptocurrency] for investment purposes, we are skeptical about this idea. We believe it’s different from traditional assets, it’s highly risky and has signs of a pyramid scheme. Shvetsov reiterated the central bank’s “clear position” that the only means of payment in the Russian Federation is the “ruble in all its forms and not some kind of monetary surrogates or foreign currencies.” The financial authority is preparing to launch a digital ruble prototype by the end of the year and it hopes the CBDC will help curb the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia. During the event in Sochi, Shvetsov said the Bank of Russia is cooperating with commercial banks in order to delay payments sent to cryptocurrency exchanges. The CBR recently recommended banks block cards and wallets used to transact with crypto exchangers. The goal is to limit chances for impulsive purchases of crypto assets, the regulator’s deputy head remarked. Quoted by RIA Novosti, the banker stated: We are starting to work with the banking system so that it slows down payments in favor of exchange offices and cryptocurrency exchanges, fencing off opportunities for emotional purchases of this kind of products. Sergei Shvetsov noted that despite some governments taking steps to legalize cryptocurrencies, concerns persist that this type of monetary system could collapse completely. “There is a high probability that, as a high-tech financial pyramid, all this can fall down to zero,” he warned, adding that there may be hundreds of reasons why this could happen. “From our point of view, this is a large minefield,” the central bank’s official stressed. CBR Restrictions to Violate Russians’ Rights, Legal Expert Says Shvetsov’s comments have raised other concerns, however — those of people involved in the Russian crypto space. The very talk of imposing restrictions sends an extremely negative signal and the consequences could be catastrophic for the country’s crypto market, Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at the popular exchange aggregator Bestchange.ru, told Forklog. He also warned: The most affected segment will be OTC trading with registration in the Russian Federation – exchange offices and users of P2P platforms. Miners will also be forced to look for workarounds to keep farms in operation, selling the mined coins for rubles will be problematic. According to Andrey Tugarin, Managing Partner at GMT Legal, limiting bona fide transactions for the purchase of cryptocurrencies would be illegal. “The current law ‘On Digital Financial Assets’ allows every citizen of the Russian Federation to own digital currency, which is bitcoin, buy or sell it and use it as an investment. And this right applies regardless of whether the buyer is a qualified investor or not,” Tugarin emphasized. The good news right now is that in the past few weeks, Exmo, a popular cryptocurrency exchange in the region, has not registered any decline in the volume of deposits made by Russian users. In fact, Russian trades on the platform have actually increased during the recent market correction, revealed Maria Stankevich, Exmo’s chief business development officer. Do you think Bank of Russia will manage to curb Russian cryptocurrency investments? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. View the full article